The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You've Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson

by David Barton

The American public was nearly deprived of the opportunity to hear this book.

In 2012, popular historian David Barton set out to correct what he saw as the distorted image of a once-beloved Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, in what became a New York Times best-selling book, The Jefferson Lies.

Despite the wildly popular success of the original hardcover edition, or perhaps because of it, a campaign to discredit Barton's scholarship was launched by bloggers and a handful of non-historian academics.

What happened next was shocking, virtually unprecedented in modern American publishing history. Under siege from critics, the publisher spiked the book and recalled it from the retail shelves from coast to coast. The Jefferson Lies is thus a history book that made history, becoming possibly the first book of its kind to be victimized by the scourge of political correctness.

But more than three years later, it's back as an updated edition in which Barton sets the record straight and takes on the critics who savaged his work.

And that's just part of the story. Why did this book spark so much controversy?

It could only happen in an America that has forgotten its past. Its roots, its purpose, its identity, all have become shrouded behind a veil of political correctness bent on twisting the nation's founding, and its Founders, beyond recognition.

The time has come to remember again.

This new audio edition of The Jefferson Lies re-documents Barton's research and conclusions as sound, and his premises true. It tackles seven myths about Thomas Jefferson head-on and answers pressing questions about this incredible statesman, including:

Did Thomas Jefferson really have a child by his young slave girl, Sally Hemings?
Did he write his own Bible, excluding the parts of Christianity with which he disagreed?
Was he a racist who opposed civil rights and equality for Black Americans?
Did he, in his pursuit of separation of church and state, advocate the secularizing of public life
Through Jefferson's own words and the eyewitness testimony of contemporaries, Barton repaints a portrait of the man from Monticello as a visionary, an innovator, a man who revered Jesus, a classical Renaissance man, and a man whose pioneering stand for liberty and God-given inalienable rights fostered a better world for this nation and its posterity. For America, the time to remember these truths is now.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Politics, Presidents, American History, Biography Memoir

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

David Barton is the Founder and President of WallBuilders, a national pro-family organization that presents America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our moral, religious and constitutional heritage.

WallBuilders is a name taken from the Old Testament writings of Nehemiah, who led a grassroots movement to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore its strength and honor. In the same way, WallBuilders seeks to energize the grassroots today to become involved in strengthening their communities, states, and nation.

David is the author of numerous best-selling books, with the subjects being drawn largely from his massive library of tens of thousands of original writings from the Founding Era. He also addresses well over 400 groups each year.

His exhaustive research has rendered him an expert in historical and constitutional issues and he serves as a consultant to state and federal legislators, has participated in several cases at the Supreme Court, was involved in the development of the History/Social Studies standards for states such as Texas and California, and has helped produce history textbooks now used in schools across the nation.

Reviews

[Daniel Bastian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Confirmation bias has taken many victims over the years. And it’s a sure bet that anyone who parrots David Barton is one of them. Best known for providing inaccurate portrayals of the religious views of the founders of this nation, Barton’s fact-deprived tales have found vast refuge in the religious right of America. Glenn Beck (who penned the book's foreword) has even called him “one of the most important men alive today.” If only.

The Texan native claims to be rescuing history, despite no formal training in the subject. (Barton has a bachelor’s degree in religious education from Oral Roberts University.) His books and sundry guest appearances regularly feature ideas at odds with field consensus and well-established facts, such as the claim that America was founded not as a constitutionally secular democracy but as an explicitly Christian nation. According to Barton, Jefferson and his co-founders wanted more religion, not less, in the public sphere, information that’s somehow been suppressed by a liberal, anti-Christian educational agenda. These and other similar claims may be historically untenable, but such rhetoric is music to many evangelical ears.

Barton’s reputation as a serial disinformer came to a head with this 2012 book, ironically titled The Jefferson Lies, that was recalled for historical malpractice four months after publication. The book’s release was met with a blitz of controversy when it was found that he literally fabricated several of the quotes that appear in the book. As many as a dozen quotations had no primary source to support them. The History News Network later called it “the least credible history book in print.” After additional alarms were raised by actual historians pointing out the spurious content of the book, including two exposés on NPR, publisher Thomas Nelson promptly pulled it from shelves, citing a “loss of confidence”:

“The Thomas Nelson publishing company has decided to cease publication and distribution of David Barton’s controversial book, The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You’ve Always Believed about Thomas Jefferson, saying it has “lost confidence in the book’s details.”

Casey Francis Harrell, Thomas Nelson’s director of corporate communications, told me the publishing house “was contacted by a number of people expressing concerns about [The Jefferson Lies].” The company began to evaluate the criticisms, Harrell said, and “in the course of our review learned that there were some historical details included in the book that were not adequately supported. Because of these deficiencies we decided that it was in the best interest of our readers to stop the publication and distribution.”

Nelson’s Senior VP later told NPR, “The truth is, withdrawing a book from the market is extremely rare. It’s so rare I can’t think of the last time we’ve done this.” It’s true. Only in the worst cases of plagiarism or fabrication are works rescinded from publication. Barton is in exclusive company.

His record of spreading falsehoods extends beyond this single tome on Jefferson, however. Barton’s website is littered with historical inaccuracies and his earlier DVD, “America’s Godly Heritage,” is a monument of lies and deceptions. Among his many howlers are that the American Revolutionary War was fought over slavery (it wasn’t), that the founders came down on the creationist side of the evolution-creationism debate (despite the awkward fact that Darwin's masterstroke didn't show up until a century later), that the Constitution quotes the Bible (it doesn’t), and that Ronald Reagan opposed the Brady Bill (he favored it). Such rampant revisionism may be best explained as evidence of pseudologia fantastica; the guy needs serious help.

Nor is it just those on the left who have come out in protest. Barton has been hounded even by the Christian right for his habitual whitewashing of American history, and in fact, they’ve been some of his loudest critics. Shortly after The Jefferson Lies was released, two professors at Grove City College (a conservative Christian school) published a rejoinder titled Getting Jefferson Right: Fact Checking Claims about Our Third President. It’s essentially what you’d expect: a point-by-point refutation of the fact-averse mess Barton should have never churned out in the first place.

Even Jay Richards, a well-known creationist and senior fellow of the Discovery Institute, was so incensed by Barton’s impostures that he asked Gregg Frazer, a history professor at Master’s College, to write a rebuttal to Barton’s work. You can find the full review at Warren Throckmorton's Patheos site. In clear and certain terms, Frazer punctures the many distortions, half-truths, and false quotes popularized in the “America’s Godly Heritage” DVD.

It’s worth reading if only because you have one Christian disputing another’s patently idealized heritage of America. Not all Christians sweep inconvenient facts under the rug and invent fictions in their stead. Unlike Barton and his ilk, in other words, other Christians have academic and personal integrity.

Closing Thoughts

Just as creationists subordinate modern science to the primacy of Bronze Age texts, so do ideologues like Barton warp history to suit their conservative religious agenda. It’s despicable, because he knows full well what he is doing—manipulating those predisposed to believe what he has to offer. The ultimate irony is that the founders he so blatantly refashions in his own narrow evangelical image would utterly despise him and everything he stands for.

Note: Parts of this review have been republished from my official website.

[Amora · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of egregious myths about Thomas Jefferson have spread within recent times and unfortunately they have made their way into academia. The two most egregious would have to be the myth that he had a child with a slave and was deeply racist. Using Jefferson’s own writings and new scholarship, historian David Barton shows us that Thomas Jefferson really is who we think he is. This book generated a lot of controversy when it was released and I’m glad the author has steadfastly defended his work.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first reviewed this a couple of years ago but noticed I'd left out a set of quotation marks and put them in today. 11/28/17


While I'm not a "scholar" (I only have a minor in history and all other "learning" on my part has been autodidactic) I'm not so "fussed" about this book as others seem to be. There has been great consternation since it's publication with people lining up and taking sides (largely along political lines) trying to stifle it or keep it in print.

The book is not as I had been led to believe a "tissue of lies". It's an attempt on the part of the author to counter certain modern ideas that have been built around this member of the founders of the country. The only thing he's guilty of is taking a strident approach to one side while many others do the same on their side. He doesn't "manufacture facts". It can probably be said that he simply "takes the best possible view" of said facts. The controversy is in my view over blown and over done. Anyone who's read The People's History of the United States has read as much view shifting, or fact selection. He wants to support a certain point of view so he shines the light on facts to put his argument in the best "light".

This is a sometimes dry always direct book that some will like and others will hate. It will take a view that shines the best light possible on Thomas Jefferson as so many books now attempt to emphasize the negatives of that man. Go into it knowing this and I doubt you'll be all that incensed unless you are one who likes the idea of "taking Jefferson down a few pegs". Just a generally factual book of history with the facts used to support a certain point of view. Maybe not the best thing to do but certainly nothing new or unusual and something that happens on all/both sides of the political spectrum.

[Sarah (Presto agitato) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have been trying to make it through this audiobook for almost a year now. I can only handle it in small doses before I get so annoyed I have to take a break. I’m not really sure why I persevered. Maybe just stubbornness. This book is a truly terrible attempt to debunk several myths about Thomas Jefferson from a Christian evangelical revisionist history viewpoint. Most of that amounts to violently whacking at straw men while twisting carefully selected snippets of history, devoid of context, to reverse engineer the founding father into a proto-evangelical advocate of emancipation and racial equality who wasn’t as influenced by the Enlightenment as everybody says.

It’s kind of exhausting unraveling the tortured logic required to justify all of the premises in the book. Take, for example, this assertion that the study of evolution has resulted in a poor understanding of history. Barton writes, “The second impediment to historical literacy is evolution, which is not simply a science controversy but rather a philosophy-of-life debate.” He goes on to complain about “evolution” in education leading to such evils as New Math and removing diagramming sentences from the English curriculum. He claims that when “evolutionary belief is applied to law, it results in the ‘living Constitution,’ asserting that what was written two centuries ago is not applicable today...Constitutional history, therefore, becomes irrelevant, and has largely been dropped from legal studies in most law schools.” I imagine a lot of law students would be surprised to hear that, but at any rate, Barton goes on, “After all, since evolution states that man is ever progressing, then what is in the past is of little relevance today. The study of history is therefore a complete waste of time.” Thanks, Darwin.

Barton recommends reading biographies written before 1900 because they have not “been infected with our modern agendas.” He even gives a useful guide with percentages for how confident he is in biographies based on when they were printed.

Before 1900—“the most honest and accurate view”
1900 to 1920—75% confidence
1920 to 1950—50% confidence
1960s and later—20% confidence

Now, I will admit that I do occasionally enjoy reading older biographies and histories. They can be entertaining, and there is value in getting a perspective from another era on a historical topic. It is true that they are free of our “modern agendas.” The problem with that approach, though, is that they are often colored by the agendas of the eras in which they were written. Partisan bias did not magically appear in 1900. It is just less recognizable when the issues aren’t ones we tend to think about, which means the reader has to be even more on guard against it. This is strikingly so when the topic is Thomas Jefferson. Historians and biographers of the founding era seem to have picked sides almost from the start. The hagiographies of the 19th century usually make it pretty easy to tell whether the writer was on Team Jefferson or Team Hamilton, which has a lot to do with what “Jefferson lies” (and truths) get propagated.

Jefferson was a complex person who lived a long life and wrote a lot, for a lot of different audiences. He was politically astute and very careful about what he said, particularly when it came to topics that his political enemies might want to use against him. Analyzing his positions on issues like religion and race with any usefulness requires careful scholarship and context. This book is not that. This is a Fox News-style rant against modern liberal heresies combined with a lot of wishful thinking about American history.

[Fred Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Thomas Jefferson's 6th great nephew, I have some interest in the topic and have seen a number of refutations of the Sally Hemings dna "proof" issue in the past few years. But I had not paid as much attention to the charges that Jefferson was a racist, an atheist, that the University of VA which he established was designed as anti-religion, anti-clergy and purely secular. The author takes on each of these assertions, examines them in the context of their time and often in Jefferson's own words. Since I could care less about the religious issues - being far more secular than Jefferson - I was not aware of the amount of distortion that had taken place. A tip of the hat to Barton, not only for an admirable job of refutation but an analysis of the various tools used by those who would present history as it never occurred.

I almost passed on this book when I saw the Foreward is by Glenn Beck, who is as guilty of distorting facts as anyone, but glad I did not let that keep me from reading it.

[James Reyes · Rating 1 out of 5]

All I can say is, "What a pile of unscholarly horseshit!" The list of easily verifiable inaccuracies is beyond baffling. Barton is no more an historian than I an aerospace engineer.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of controversy surrounding this book.
I won't pretend I'm an expert historian with a vast reservoir of historical knowledge to draw upon. All I can say is that, to me, this book seemed well-reasoned and well-supported (more than half the pagecount consists of footnotes). I believe that some of the criticisms raised against Barton are valid, but I also think the criticism is largely overblown. I think a lot of people simply hate Barton and what he stands for and are more interested in discrediting him than in sussing out the truth. I would wager that very few 1-star reviews for THE JEFFERSON LIES are by people who actually read the book, and fewer still by people that approached it with an open mind. Just as with any book on religion, evolution, politics, or environmentalism, you've got people on both sides of the fence shouting over each other without actually listening to what the other side is saying.
A lot of people decry this book because they assume it paints Jefferson as being orthodox in his religious views. In actuality, the book does nothing of the sort. Barton explains that Jefferson went through different phases in his religious views, and that his degree of orthodoxy depends on which part of his life you are referring to. People also talk about Barton taking quotes out of context, but I'm at a loss to figure out which quotes they are talking about.
To be fair, the critics raise a few good points. Barton demonstrates a certain hostility toward modern academia, and the result is that he sometimes explains their views in a way that belittles or mischaracterizes them. I'm sure no college professor alive would appreciate Barton's interpretation of concepts like "modernism" and "deconstructionism." Barton is also attacked for taking it upon himself to coin the term "academic collectivism." As far as I'm concerned, all of Barton's definitions have a certain basis in truth, but they correspond to a cynic's view of academia and are not the mainstream definitions Barton implies them to be.
Another possible criticism, depending on your point of view, is that Barton takes all of Jefferson's words at face value, without allowing for any political maneuvering whatsoever. In the modern age, believing that politicians always mean what they say can rightly be considered the height of naivete, but I believe that men like Jefferson were cut from an entirely different cloth. Therefore, I'm willing to assume that Jefferson did things like go to church because he wanted to, not because he was catering to his political base. That being said, I would agree that Barton sometimes overplays his hand by providing certain pieces of evidence that may not hold up under close scrutiny. But that doesn't mean we then have to ignore all the other pieces of evidence that DO hold up.
In regard to this book, critics don't just want to throw the baby out with the bathwater; they want to dismantle the tub and burn down the whole house supporting it. Which is why much of the criticism I have read of this book comes across as wrong-headed, misinformed, and highly opportunistic. Since Barton sets his sights on modern historians and academia, it isn't too surprising that the academia-at-large hasn't come out in support of this book. Since Barton is an outspoken Christian and a member of the Tea Party, it's no surprise that this book is detested by militant atheists and the political left. It's very hard to differentiate between criticism of this book and criticism of Barton himself.
As for me, I found the book highly readable, engrossing, and thought-provoking. And I prefer when people wear their biases on their sleeve rather than pretend they don't have any. THE JEFFERSON LIES is not a perfect book, but not one I take issue with. If Oliver Stone can write history books without historians complaining, then I don't see what all the fuss is about.

[Wanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had a copy of The Jefferson Lies for a while now in a stack of “to read” books, waiting until I had the time to get to it. But after being made aware of the “controversy” over this book last week I bumped it up on my list and have just finished it. As I expected when I bought the book, I found it to be an indispensible volume of historical facts that had been carefully researched and documented—just like I have come to expect from all of David Barton’s books. In this book we get the chance to see Jefferson as he was—a man of integrity and conviction who worked hard to help frame this country into the great nation of freedom and opportunity that Americans have enjoyed for generations. Those who have chosen to bash Barton’s work are cut from the same cloth as those who chose to bash Jefferson in the beginning—narrow minded liberals who seek to rewrite our nation’s history for their own purposes.

Our government education system has been very successful in destroying the rich history of our nation. Political correctness has overruled common sense until revisionist history is all we know. The only way to truly see what happened in the past is to go to original sources like Baton does. For him to be accused on not having any documentation to support his work is simply ridiculous. This book is full of documentation. Thomas Nelson claims to have pulled the book for lack of sources. I believe they pulled it as a result of caving to the politically correct left wingers. Don’t take my word or anyone else’s for it—get a copy and read and judge it for yourself. You just might be surprised.

[John Martindale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know about the controversy surrounding the book until I got online to write a review. It looks like for political reasons, the publishers gave into pressure and pulled the book. As a result, many now get the pleasure of dismiss this book as a pile of BS without even reading it. On amazon there are multitudes of petty reviews by people who merely got on to bloat over the fact that a book by a Christian author was pulled off the shelf. It really is sad, for "The Jefferson Lies" is incredibly well documented and based primarily on original sources and is presents historical facts that have purposely been censored from modern history books.

Sadly, because David Barton is an evangelical Christian, he is automatically discredited in the eyes of the general public, so no matter how factual and well documented a book written by him is, it is ruled out as propaganda, before its even read.

Because of Barton's Christians stance, people assume Barton is trying to make a case that Jefferson was a orthodox evangelical Christian. But Barton presents a much more complex picture, showing how Jefferson shifted about throughout his life. Because of this, secularist can find their pet quotes and Christians can find their own quotes, but Barton acknowledges its not so cut and dry. At times in Jefferson's life, he was far from orthodox and at other times he sounded like an passionate Christian.

one thing is Jefferson's actions speak louder then words. Its nice to learn how he donated tons of money to Christian missions, for churches to be built, for bible societies and gave bibles as gifts and spent tons of hours studying and praising the moral philosophy of Jesus. He also promoted and encouraged religious activities in the public square. He also was a hero in his day for his work for abolitionist cause, he was admired even by African Americans of the day and afterwards, who understood the difficult situation he was in, due to Virgina slave laws.

Barton is not setting out to present all the negative stuff about Jefferson that is already known, he is attempting to show the historical context and also share the rest of the story that is censored by modernist. Because Barton is showing the other-side that has been covered up, of course this book seems one sided!

But yeah, I enjoyed the book, it was of course upsetting to see to what an extent Jefferson has been slandered and misrepresented by modern writers. But once I could get past this, I could actually begin to enjoy the positive things I was learning about Jefferson. Jefferson is one of my favorite politicians and yeah, its nice to learn that I can admire him for far more then his political philosophy.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

When this book was first published, Barton was attacked relentlessly. Even though a fourth of this book is footnotes from original sources, the attackers claimed Barton got Jefferson all wrong. They believed in a racist, anti-religious, proslavery Jefferson and Barton's book proved they were taking history out of context. In an unprecedented move, the publisher pulled the book off the shelves without even the courtesy of informing Barton.

I find this very strange. How often does a book get banished from the shelves in this country? There are volumes of history and philosophy books that have no credentials or footnotes, just pages of the author’s opinions. These books are never banished from the shelves. That would be censorship. (Last I checked, you can still find James Fry’s A Million Little Pieces in the memoir section at the bookstore.)

All this leaves me with only one option: The Jefferson Lies was pulled for purely political reasons.

Why do so many academics want to paint our Founding Fathers in a negative light? Because they want to reinforce their world view that America is no good. To do this, they must prove that American founding was anything but God-inspired.

Barton sets out to disprove six myths about Jefferson that have been taught as truth for many, many years. I thought it was a cold hard fact that Jefferson fathered children with his slave, Sally Hemings. Not so.

If Jefferson was anti-slavery, why did he not set his slaves free? This book explains why.
And what about Jefferson’s infamous “separation of Church and State” statement. Would he applaud our current application of this principle?

I highly recommend this book.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started The Jefferson Lies by David Barton. So far, it is a page turner (despite the numerous footnotes that can distract at times).
History is never written by its actors, and when it comes to "accuracy", it is only as good as the research, analysis and referencing done by the author. David Barton is a strong historian. Even if some claim that he has a religious agenda, I find interesting to review historical periods or people using someone else's looking glass: up to me to decide if I believe in or agree with the author's presentation.
Facts may remain, but interpretation and filling of gaps between facts is again left to the author and no one will really know for sure what the so called "Truth" might have been.
I find...fascinating(!) that some critics are so closed minded that any deviance from the established believes cannot be challenged and discussed.
So far, this book is very engaging and makes me want to learn more about this period of American history. If you want a book to challenge your knowledge or belief, this is one I recommend (so far!)

[CV Rick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I sat in Barnes and Noble yesterday and read this book. I wouldn't buy - thank God I didn't.

David Barton isn't an historian. He's a preacher. It shows.

It's obvious that his heroes in history didn't exist - but they are still his heroes nonetheless. He creates his heroes out of the past by picking great deeds and then assigning to those deeds men of character and resilience that he would admire in men of the present. Then he assigns those characters the names of those men in the past who accomplished those deeds. These men, were they alive today, wouldn't recognize Barton's vision of themselves.

What he did was pick the things about Jefferson that he wishes weren't true and then carefully extracted limited excerpts and out of context quotes - sometimes cut right in the middle of a sentence - to support the vision of what he would've wanted Jefferson to be. It's falsehood and reckless manipulation of the highest order.

Disgusting and shameful that people purchased this collection of lies and manipulated mythology.

[Arminius · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most interesting part of this book is how he describes the historical malpractice used by historians. The first is deconstructionism. Deconstructionism is the practice of tearing down heroes and institutions. The second practice employed by historians is Post structuralism. Post structuralism is the belief that each individual interprets history by himself using only his/her personal feelings to judge it. The third is Modernism which is judging history in today’s context. The fourth is Minimalism which involves making broad conclusions about an event or person based on scant information. The final malpractice is Academic Collectivism. This is reporting history based upon the writings of others rather than original source documents.

The author blames these malpractices for the seven most common lies told about Thomas Jefferson. He then proceeds to explain why they are lies.

The most common item of information told about Thomas Jefferson is that he fathered a child from his slave Sally Hemings. The author’s disproving surprised me. I erroneously thought that it was a proven fact. However, not only is not proven it is highly unlikely. Noted historian Joseph Ellis wrote in Nature magazine that DNA has proven conclusively that Thomas Jefferson was the father of at least one of Sally Heming’s children. His story was based off of a story that appeared in Science magazine. This made huge headlines in 1998. However, just 8 weeks later his sensational article was retracted. The reason is that the Y chromosome identified in Heming’s descendents could be traced to any one of 26 Jefferson males. The more interesting point made in this book is that Jefferson scandal was released possibly to act as diffusion to President Clinton’s concurrent scandal.

The rest of the points deal primarily with Jefferson’s supposed lack of religious faith. I think the author adeptly proves that Jefferson was a religious man and not a deist, agnostic or atheist.

The only point I disagree with is that he insinuates that Jefferson was somewhat of a victim to the scandalmonger James Callender’s vicious written attacks on Washington and Hamilton. It is, however, well known that Thomas Jefferson had funded Mr. Callender.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never had a high opinon of Jefferson, but when I saw that Barton had written this book, I was willing to learn. What I found was some very good historical information that did counter many of the lies that people have spread about Jefferson. I also found my dislike for the man had nothing to do with the lies that are smashed within these pages, but with his arrognace and incosistant character (which this book confirmed). I highly reccomend this book. Barton doesn't quate other historians to find the Jefferson he wanted, he goes back to what Jefferson wrote about himself.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Barton clearly, convincingly, and compellingly ... with tons of documentation ... debunks and defeats some critical current conceptions we've been inculturated to think about Thomas Jefferson. Barton's apologetic addresses issues including allegations of Jefferson's paternity of several of his slave-girl Sally Hemmings, the secularity of U.of Virginia, TJ's supposed championing of separation of church and state, authoring his own "bible", and of course his anti-Christian deism. Barton lends thorough counter to these and more misconceptions, lending enough data and evidence without burying the reader in academic research and minutiae.

The book does however illuminate the key strategies and techniques used by anti-religious academics to "revise" and rewrite history that it might better fit their views and meet their progressive, liberal lessons and syllabi. Terms including deconstructionism, American exceptionalism, modernism, minimalism, and more are explained that readers would have a more conceptual/theoretical idea of both why and how so-called historians bastardize, spin, and too often re-write history to suit their values and views.

Still, as we are sadly discovering nearly every day in watching the world we live in and the escalating secular attacks on Christianity and proponents like Barton, many angry haters will write-off without even reading this outstanding book because of its author. And they will pooh-pooh the book's powerful points and attack its credibility. They will likely do so using the same minimalistic and deconstructionalist tactics of those who aspire to destroy and/or misconstrue biblical verse, to make their personal, usually humanistic perspectives. You know, isolating that passage where God allows babies to be slaughtered ... what kind of god would allow that, right? ... without putting it in the context of God's warning time and time again that he would literally eliminate an evil, sinful tribe. And that is part of Barton's mission, i.e. to help people to learn factual, oft twisted history and to understand islolated vignettes in context of how they were intended by Jefferson vs. the so-called historians who prefer to transform Thomas J's POV posthumously.

Know that the author of this review is an unabashed follower of Christ and fan of Thomas Jefferson. I'm glad Barton has taken on the not insignificant challenge of correcting a corrupting culture on critical fallacies of Jefferson. And being affirmed that I'm following in Jefferson's foot-steps as he sought to follow Jesus Christ in his many-faceted roles of establishing and leading our nation.

[Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

You will not find me giving books endorsed y Glenn Beck positive reviews very often. Nor will I buy gold from whatever company he preys on the fears of the elderly for. However, this book recalibrated my views on a central figure in our nations history and would have gotten a fourth star but it was just a little too repetitive for me to give it that one. But every American should read it. I learned some new things, but more importantly, learned things I thought to be true were lies and vice versa.

I was shocked at just how little I knew about the DNA testing, to start with. The fact that the DNA evidence has shown that he wasn't the father is interesting, particularly as I had just assumed that he had fathered several children with at least one slave (now it appears it might have been some male relative, but not him)
Admittedly at least some of my education on the matter came from a Family Guy episode, so that could be part of it. Astonishingly, political attack ads are still believed some 200+ years later even by educated people.

The fact that he owned slaves all his life because he was legally not allowed to free them was also news to me. It's a fascinating tidbit that gets conveniently ignored.

It doesn't surprise me that a man as prolific and long-lived as Jeffferson would have many conflicting statements and actions concerning religion. Take the rough average of his sentiments and it is clear that he was very much a christian. Again, this was news to me. I wouldn't be shocked if Jefferson was one of the 'least'
religious Founding Fathers, if only because the bar is pretty high. And 'forcing' Christianity on the Indians has a far different connotation now. Then it was a corporal work of mercy and the duty of all good christians to proselytize to the heathens who did not know the joys of guilt, shame and a complete lack of sex.

All in all it was a pretty revealing book. you get a sense of the author's indignation at the smearing of what is obviously one of his heroes, and it is righteous indignation. Worth the read for every American.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read! The author, David Barton goes straight to the source for information: 1) Thomas Jefferson's own writings, 2) Jefferson family writings, 3) Friends & Acquaintenances of Jefferson, their writings, 4) Newspaper articles of the period, 5) Historical sequences based on fact rather than modern conjecture; this he documents solidly.

No wonder those who want to re-write history (revisionist), especially Jefferson's history are up in arms about this book. It's even more interesting that under academic & clergy pressure, the publisher of this book edited out 30% to 33% of the manuscript; then, as the pressure from these two groups increased, the publisher caved in and quit publishing the book entirely! Do we have a case of censorship here? Apparently, so!

What makes this book turn revisionist on their heads is that David Barton takes his material from the original sources which leaves these revisionist with no room for interpretation or 'story telling'. Facts are facts, and they're indisputable in this book. David Barton has done a monumental and excellent job of research.

For now, the book is a collectors item, but that won't last for long. It will be published in its entirety and distributed through www.wallbuilders.com.

For those of you that want to know the "REAL" Thomas Jefferson and his views on religion and the famous words of "Seperation of Church and State", you need to read this book and pass it on! Spread the word.

Highly recommended read!

[Blain Dillard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you remember when you first heard that Jefferson fathered a child by his 14 year old slave mistress, Sally Hemming? Coincidentally, that widely reported news story was broken right in the midst of Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky scandal, written by a "scientist" against the impeachment of the then President. What you may not know was that story was later debunked and retracted, and of course, that was scarcely reported. Such are the insights found in The Jefferson Lies. I found this book a very compelling defense of Thomas Jefferson, dispelling many of the myths and lies being spread by revisionist would-be historians who tend to take brief historical statements out of context, or quote one another instead of the original sources in context. This book contains countless direct source references, most from Jefferson himself, and are presented in context and in an engaging manner, making a strong case debunking the 7 lies currently being accepted as truth. There are many haters out there who would rather believe 21st liberal ideologues than the words of Jefferson himself, but if only half of this book is correct, the cases are still made. It's disturbing that public schools are not focusing on teaching accurate Colonial American History, and American History is being rewritten before our eyes to be a travesty inflicted on mankind, only salvageable by liberal socialist policies.

[Kerry Nietz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prior to reading this book, I had only surface-level knowledge of Thomas Jefferson. I knew he was an important and central figure in the founding of America, and I also suspected he was an intellectual genius.

There were many things I’d heard about him that troubled me, though, too. I knew he owned slaves. I’d heard the rumors about illegitimate children. Vaguely remembered there was a movie with that premise. (Never saw it.) I also was used to hearing that he was a deist, or possibly an atheist.

“The Jefferson Lies” really informed and improved my opinion of Jefferson. It is skillfully written and divided into logical chapters—one for each of the apparent lies told about the famous founder. Each chapter then refutes, or at the very least, draws into serious question, the commonly held belief about him.

Unlike many books that deal with history or historical figures, this book isn’t a slog to get through. It is a brisk read, yet it is filled with vital history—and much of it through the words of Jefferson himself.

I appreciated the fact that the author gives context for what Jefferson said and did. Often this is left out of the discussion. But in a brief manner, Barton manages to paint Jefferson into the tapestry of the times he lived in.

I also liked the breadth of Jefferson’s life being mentioned and explored. It is true that most people’s opinions and beliefs change over time, and it is easy for sloppy historians to characterize an individual by a particular instance in their life, or a particular comment. To fit their own preconceived notions.

(This book is HEAVILY footnoted, BTW. It has nearly fifty pages of footnotes, printed in a tiny, tiny font.)

All in all, I think “The Jefferson Lies” is a great primer on the life of a great man. As mentioned, my attitude toward Jefferson has changed. What started as an important, yet intellectually troublesome, individual for me has become one of the founders I’d most like to meet, second only to Washington.

I recommend this book to everyone.

[Nicholas · Rating 1 out of 5]

In addition to the historical errors, this book suffers from two primary problems:

First, there is significant weight to the argument that Barton is responding to straw men. While he claims to be responding to the “twentieth-century practices that now dominate the study of American history and its heroes: Deconstructionism, Poststructuralism, Modernism, Minimalism, and Academic Collectivism.” (xvi), an examination of his footnotes tells a very different story. For chapters 3-7, Barton takes a specific issue, shows what the “experts” say, and then refutes them. The problem is that his experts are largely not historians or academics but websites like secularhumanism.org, modernghana.com, hubpages.org, about.com (one of his favorites), or The Secular Web. Even when engaging with serious academic works, he cites newspaper or blog reviews rather than the original work itself (Chapters 4 & 7). The one book he does cite with frequency to show mainstream Jefferson misconceptions is “Six Historic Americans,” a 1906 book by John Remsburg, an anti-Christian freethinking lecturer. This book, however, barely qualifies as a ���twentieth-century” work, cannot be considered mainstream today, and appears to be a revisionist hit-job on the founders.

Keep reading at http://www.yespeak.com/2012/07/david-...

See also: Barton alternatives.

[Jim]

Junk history.

Barton’s abrupt, and short-lived, fall from grace began with the publication in April 2012 of his book “The Jefferson Lies,” which portrays Thomas Jefferson as an orthodox Christian who saw no need to separate church and state.

Secular critics had long denounced Barton as a fraud who manipulates and misrepresents history to serve political goals. With the publication of “The Jefferson Lies,” several dozen academics at Christian colleges stepped forward to join the chorus.

Led by Warren Throckmorton, a professor of psychology at Grove City College, the Christian scholars tore apart the new book, pointing out a bevy of errors and distortion. Several pastors picked up the thread, organizing a boycott of Barton’s publisher, the Christian publishing house Thomas Nelson. The critiques gained so much steam that Barton’s book was voted “the least credible history book in print” in an online poll by the History News Network.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09...

Stay away from all his history books.

[Bernice · Rating 5 out of 5]

As in all of David Barton's books (at least the ones that I've read), EVERYTHING is thoroughly documented, which I appreciate. It does make the reading slightly tedious, but while reading, you know you are truly getting the facts. Even though I thought I knew quite a lot about Jefferson, this book made me realize what a great man he was, not perfect, but a thinker who knew what he believed and why. I especially appreciated the refutation of the Hemmings story, and the reasoning behind WHY Jefferson did not free his slaves until his death - obnoxious red tape on the state level. Though I have always heard that he was a deist, Barton's careful explanation of Jefferson's beliefs and some changes of his beliefs through the years, clearly refute that claim. I also was amazed to learn that as President, Jefferson allocated federal funds to evangelize several different groups of Native Americans.

[Sandy Shin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book because of the promises made by the seller,all of which were as full of lies and misstatements as the book itself.

This is a book I threw away, along with the others I'd bought at the same time by this liar. The only hopeful news I can give is that, in this day of easy fact checking, it will be so much harder for someone to get away with distortions, omissions and willful lying in order to rewrite history to his own twisted point of view.

Double check everything David Barton ever writes (do not waste money actually buying anything he has written) and you will discover many sources of facts you can depend upon and enjoy exploring-so Barton does serve a useful purpose of sorts

[John Ellis · Rating 1 out of 5]

The deception in this book is so blatant and absurd that it would be slightly amusing if I didn't have family and friends who have swallowed Barton's balderdash.

I read this book with my copies of Jefferson's letters beside me, constantly referencing those letters. Barton's lies are often so obvious as to be puzzling. Unwilling to ascribe motive, I'm not going to speculate as to Barton's endgame. I do, however, encourage people to check Barton's claims against Jefferson's own words.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was challenging to listen to, and I can't imagine it is any easier on the eyes in its physical format. Although there are some great points made about how modern writers often misinterpret history, the writing style in general was repetitive to the point of being condescending. Even worse, some of the faults Barton (rightly) accuses other authors of, he is just as guilty of himself.

People who do not study history think that it is boring and simple. They are not aware of the heated debates that take place over motives and personalities. Thinking history is nothing more than a list of dates, they discount it as insignificant. If this book does nothing else, it disproves this thought regarding history.

Was Jefferson an atheist, racist, rapist, *add in the negative term you have heard applied to Jefferson here* - or was he a forward thinking, brilliant Christian man unfortunately limited by the world in which he lived? The answer, of course, would fully satisfy nobody at either extreme because Jefferson, like most everyone else, was a complex man not able to be fully defined by simplistic labels.

Barton gets a few things completely right. Modern writers do transpose their own worldviews onto historical figures and try to force them to fit into it. They do look at one written line or one spoken comment and draw drastic conclusions from them. They do try to use historical figures as props to hold up their modern ideas despite the fact that we have no idea how they would truly react to our current situation.

Unfortunately, Barton also gets a few things wrong. He tries to paint such an overwhelmingly positive portrait of Jefferson that he dismisses evidence contrary to his ideas just as much as those he speaks against. He states repeatedly that Jefferson was unable to free his slaves through his will due to Virginia law, which is easily disproved in about 30 seconds online. Yes, a law similar to what he describes existed, but it was not as restrictive as he makes it out to be. It was a painful exercise to listen to the author attempt to clear Jefferson's name as a 'racist' while admitting that he owned slaves his entire life.

This is the problem with trying to force our modern views upon historical figures. In truth, Jefferson really was forward thinking in his attitudes toward blacks, but he still lived during a time of legalized slavery. He did free some of his slaves, and he did hire free black men for various positions and held them in high esteem....but he also owned slaves. This is a way of thinking that we can't reconcile in our modern mind without trying harder to understand the 18/19th century way of thinking. Anyone calling Jefferson a racist or trying to exonerate him is not really trying to understand who he really was because it's just not that simple.

I did appreciate the section of this book explaining more detail about the so-called 'Jefferson Bible' and clarifying Jefferson's attitude toward faith & the church. The fact that freedom of religion has evolved into freedom from religion in the US leads to many misunderstandings of Jefferson's feelings and objectives in this arena.

This book unfortunately is not a good source on Jefferson due to the half-truths & exaggerations that are made. Some previous knowledge is required to be aware of where the author is taking liberties with the subject matter.

[Jay Perkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was a period of time in my youth when I was influenced by David Barton and other advocates of the "Christian America" thesis. A theme that had great impact upon me was their accusation that history written by academic professors was false and untrustworthy because the scholars who wrote it were promoting an anti-God, anti-America agenda. The result for me was a suspicion of academic history, and I sadly avoided reading American colonial history in general. Unsurprisingly, this is a major theme that Barton expands on throughout the entirety of "The Jefferson Lies". A label he often uses in this book in conjunction with this accusation is "academic collectivism", which he defines as "writers and scholars {who} quote each other and those from their peer group rather than consult original sources" (this is just one of 5 "isms" that Barton explains). He goes on to say that "this type of 'peer review' is incestuous, with one scholar quoting another, each recirculating the other’s views, but with none of them consulting sources or ideas outside his or her own academic gene pool." Unfortunately, Barton unfairly misrepresents a large majority of academic, historical scholarship. He leads you to believe that all scholars agree with each other and he makes the mistake of lumping them together in one formidable, monolithic, group. Barton doesn't seem to understand how historical inquiry and method works, nor does he seem to be aware of how often historians in academia criticize and debate each other. When I started actually reading the academic history Barton denounces, I found that I had been grievously mislead. Most of their research is based in a broader reading of primary sources and with a deeper understanding of context, complexity, and contingency than Barton could ever provide. The "anti-God", "anti-America" agenda was also missing.

Barton's criticisms of peer reviews and the use of secondary sources is simply arrogant. History is a broad discipline and it is impossible for one man to be the sole authority in any field. It is true that primary source material should be the basis of historical evidence. However, differing perspectives and people bring to light new sources and background that we must learn from. Good historians listen and learn from others as they work in the archives. Primary source material cannot be studied within a vacuum. Instead of learning from those who may have a broader understanding in a specific field, Barton instead attacks his opponents as "liberals" promoting a particular agenda.

In "The Jefferson Lies", Barton rarely deals with specific arguments, but gives broad generalizations. The few times he mentions actual historians, he doesn't engage in their argumentation at all. For example, he mentions Anette Gordon-Reed's work on Sally Hemmings, but fails to engage in the complex argumentation in either of her Hemmings books. Joeseph Ellis also comes under criticism several times within the book, but he is hardly representative of academia. Most are very critical of Ellis and his approach to history. In sum, much of Barton's criticisms are built upon straw man fallacies, misrepresenting and over simplifying historians he disagrees with.

This review has focused primarily on Barton's allegations of "academic collectivism", but much more could be criticized about this book especially the omissions and misrepresentations of what Jefferson actually said. Thockmorton and Coulter do an excellent job in the book "Getting Jefferson Right" in exposing many of these errors. For much better books on Christianity's influence on early America and the "Christian America" debate, see evangelical historians John Fea's "Was America Founded As a Christian Nation?", Gregg Frazer's "The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders", Thomas Kidd's "God of Liberty", and Mark Noll's "America's God"

Barton's motive in writing this book should also cause evangelical Christians to be wary of his work. He has built an entire organization (Wall Builders), to promote a Christian America and restore what he calls America's Christian roots. Aside from evidence that prohibits such a limited view of America's founding (see books above), this motivation is actually contrary to the Christian mission. Advancing and promoting a distinctly Christian nation is not a Biblical injunction.

In his quest, Barton allows his faith to be compromised in favor of his patriotism. Using political means to enforce Christian morals upon a nation will do little good in evangelizing unbelievers. It instead corrupts churches and drives those away who need to be reached. A good dose of Philippians 3:20 and careful theological and historical accuracy would do a lot of good.

[Robert Federline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book which not only confirms and restores the reputation of Thomas Jefferson, but does so by patiently demonstrating the correct manner of conducting historical research.

How you arrive at your conclusions is important. If you work with a base of false assumptions, you should not expect to arrive at the truth. Lies beget more lies. David Barton carefully exposes seven different lies about Thomas Jefferson which are currently enjoying a degree of popularity with persons who have an agenda to promote. If you are an advocate, you conduct research by exploring details which support your conclusion. If you are dispassionate historian, you search through original sources and materials to discover the facts. You let those facts dictate your conclusions, rather than determining which facts you credit because you can weave them into the story you wish to tell.

Mr. Barton exposes the laziness of many so-called historians who can't be bothered to search for the actual facts, but instead who quote each other, rather than doing actual research. If you repeat a lie often enough, and loud enough, you will find people who will start to believe it is the truth.

The research in this book, based on original sources, rather than politicized summaries, easily demonstrates how many things being taught today are lies, and how those lies were allowed to take root through the sins of poorly conducted historical research which rely upon minimalism, or taking quotes or facts out of context, or a host of other reporting sins.

While Mr. Barton may have his own biases, he does not make any wild claims, but rather properly and intelligently supports his positions with original source material. Ironically, this book came under heavy politicized criticism, and it appears that the criticism is itself based in bias, rather than any failings in the research of David Barton.

The critics of this book actually end up proving the point of the book, that without original source material research and honest reporting of context and complete facts, the word of these critics is not to be trusted.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided I should read this because of my endorsement of Ted Cruz, and the association that Cruz has with Barton. I am going to be reading Throckmorton next, along with some of Barton's other critics, so I might adjust my 4-star rating when I have done so, but for the present let me say that I really enjoyed this book, and particularly enjoyed the extensive quotations from primary sources. There is a lot of good information here. At the same time, I am reserving my right to adjust this assessment, and whether it goes up or down remains to be determined.

[A.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

©2012

ISBN: 978-1-59555-459-8 (hc)

I started this book with one goal in mind: to become more educated about our Founders and our Founding. On Thanksgiving Day, 2015, I was with family (of course) and, once again, had to listen to the incessant drum beat of liberal “thought” on at least three topics, including how our opening up channels with Cuba was a GOOD idea; why we’re a nation of immigrants instead of citizens (my insistence that, just because my ancestors came through the slave trade AGES ago does NOT make ME an immigrant, never got through to them—never mind the fact that IMMIGRANTS are not privy to a host nation’s laws and rights—only CITIZENS are, and if you immigrate from, say, Timbuktu to America and want to attain all rights and privileges under our Constitution, you MUST BECOME A CITIZEN, thereby ENDING your “immigrant” status); and my favorite: America’s just as racist today as she ever was, especially in the South, just the media won’t televise it because they don’t want the military involved again (paraphrased—never mind that studies WERE showing that this current generation growing up would’ve been the FIRST generation who was POST-racial, i.e., they were the first generation NOT to see skin color…until the last several years erased our erased color lines to where we now seem to be back in the Sixties with very WELL-DEFINED color lines back in place!)—and I needed sanity. I LOVE my family, but enough’s enough! I do NOT worship at the altar of Big Government (however, my being a Christian makes ME weird; I’m the poor pathetic simpleton because I DO worship Christ!), and I know our country was founded by good men who have been unfairly demeaned and debased since our Founding. Were they perfect? Of course not. They were human beings, susceptible to plenty of fallibility, but they (the majority) were not the atheistic racist slave-owners the Left has made them to be (about the only truth told today is that they’re white and men). But, though I’ve been a conservative all my life, I shamefacedly admit I have really had little desire to educate myself fully. I’ve read the Declaration and Constitution and have tried to read the Federalist Papers, but the language generally stops me from continuing on after much time. I’ve read Mark Levin and, when I still liked her, Ann Coulter, but that’s about it. So I wanted to change and arm myself with knowledge. I prayed and asked God what source is trustworthy? The name David Barton immediately came to me. So I searched for his books. This one, The Jefferson Lies, is the only one our library carries, so I decided to begin there. And, may I say, I’m glad I did. I don’t ever remember being indoctrinated against our Founders in school (thank God I went to private schools), but the only negative commentary I remember hearing about Jefferson was from an MST3K movie about time-traveling in which the “hero” of the movie (in quote marks because, for me, the man NEVER would’ve made my Heroes list!) devises a way to go back in time via his little two-seater airplane and ventures, with his girlfriend, to the Revolutionary War. There’s a scene in the woods, and one of the MST3K cast says something along the lines of “Jefferson, get out from behind that tree with Sally Hemings,” and I had no idea who she was or to what the reference referred, but I’ve never forgotten that line. Reading this book, I now know all about the slave girl and the poor man maligned as her rapist: Thomas Jefferson.

Let me start my review by giving a few quotes from Barton’s “Conclusion”: “To ensure that justice is done in the portrayal of historical events and persons such as Thomas Jefferson, we must reestablish the traditional examination of history free from agendas. …it is worth closing this work with some glimpses into the personal life of Jefferson, showing something of his heart, faith, and character.

“Jefferson was one of the rare men who became a hero in his own lifetime, yet unlike many others who attained that distinction, he always remained humble and unpretentious, living and acting as the common person for whom he had sacrificed so much. As a result, people would often converse with him without recognizing who he was” (210). “Jefferson was not only unassuming and humble but he was also good-natured, and his manners never deserted him—even to those who opposed him” (211). “Jefferson was truly an amiable, polite, and pleasant individual. He also maintained a lifelong passion for accuracy and truth” (would that this could be said for those who’ve abused his character/memory so shamefully) “that was apparent on many occasions, including while serving America overseas in France” (212). “Although a famous public figure, Jefferson loved and cherished his private life, especially time with his family. He had lost so many of his own precious children” (I believe only one or two of the six survived into adulthood) “and according to his grandson Thomas, he loved his grandchildren as if they were ‘the younger members of his family’ ”29 (213). “But Thomas didn’t spoil his grandchildren with generous gifts; he also trained them and shaped their character[s], just as he had with his own children” (213). “Jefferson also had a genuine sense of humor and would offer tongue-in-cheek comments that his grandchildren described as playful or ‘sportive.’33… Jefferson was a truly remarkable man. He had some faults, probably much fewer than many other great leasers, but he had numerous virtues worthy of study and emulation. He was unquestionably used as an instrument of God, and all races and generations of American—especially God-loving American—have benefitted from the blessings he helped secure for this nation and its posterity” (214). The final page of the book ends with: “What was once said about George Washington by President Calvin Coolidge can equally be said of Thomas Jefferson:

“We cannot yet estimate him. We can only indicate our reverence for him and thank the Divine Providence [Who] sent him to serve and inspire his fellow men”35 (215).

Now, if the above seems to go against everything you’ve come to believe about Thomas Jefferson, may I recommend this book? If you’re fair at heart, don’t you owe it to yourself (and to Thomas Jefferson) to learn the other side of the story? Wouldn’t you want people to form a just and educated opinion about you if you’d been sullied and besmirched all your life, quite unfairly? If so, read this book. In it, you’ll learn the truth about Thomas Jefferson with ample pages of references notes for you to check and double-check David Barton’s research material for yourself. And within the pages of this 215-paged book, you’ll find seven myths debunked:
1. Thomas Jefferson Fathered Sally Hemings’ Children
2. Thomas Jefferson Founded a Secular University
3. Thomas Jefferson Wrote His Own Bible and Edited Out the Things He Didn’t Agree With
4. Thomas Jefferson Was a Racist Who Opposed Equality for Black Americans
5. Thomas Jefferson Advocated a Secular Public Square through the Separation of Church and
State
6. Thomas Jefferson Detested the Clergy
7. Thomas Jefferson Was an Atheist and Not a Christian

You’ll also meet and learn about the five factions of people who’ve contributed to why so many American’s today can “list so many negatives about Jefferson but so few positives” (xvi). They would be:
1. The Deconstructionists
2. The Poststructuralists
3. The Modernists
4. The Minimalists
5. The Academic Collectivists.

As David Barton says: “Although these five [ists] might suggest that an ivory-tower discussion is about to commence, this is not the case. Once we go through each of the five, you may have an aha! Moment and recognize how each has shaped your own view of Jefferson. In fact, if you now think poorly of Jefferson, I can promise you that you will almost assuredly hold a very different opinion at the end of this book—and such is its object: to reverse the effect of the five malpracti[cers] of modern history [who] have distorted not only the presentation of Jefferson in particular but of American history in general” (xvi).

Just to whet the appetite, let me break down the five, above, just a bit: “Deconstructionism ‘tends to deemphasize or even efface [malign and smear] the subject’ by posing ‘a continuous critique’ to ‘lay low what was once high.’31 It ‘tear[s] down the old certainties upon which Western Culture is founded’32 and the foundations on which those beliefs are based.33 In short, Deconstructionism is a steady flow of belittling and negative portrayals of Western heroes, beliefs, values, and institutions. Deconstructionists make their living by telling only part of the story and spinning it negatively, manipulating others into supporting their views and objectives” (xvi).

“Poststructuralism discards absolutes and is ‘a-historical’ (that is, non- or anti-historical),44 believing that nothing transcendent can be learned from history. Instead, meaning must be constructed by each individual for [himself], and historical meanings may shift and changed based on an individual’s personal views45” (xviii). Barton likens this group to our judiciary today, where judges come up with new interpretations of the Constitution based on the redefinition of even a simple word. “In short, Poststructuralism ignores traditional national unifying structures, values, heroes, and institutions and instead substitutes personally constructed ones” (xix).

(He also says that, together, the first and second groups have worked together to destroy and redefine “the belief that America is blessed and enjoys unprecedented stability, prosperity, and liberty as a result of the institutions and policies produced by unique ideas such as God-given inalienable rights, individualism, limited government, full republicanism, and an educated and virtuous citizenry,” aka American Exceptionalism (xix).)

“Modernism…examines historical events and persons as if they occurred and livid today rather than in the past. It severs history from its context and setting, misrepresenting historical beliefs and events” (xx). “Too often today, Jefferson’s life is wrongly judged and critiqued as if he were living now rather than two centuries ago—a practice that produces many flawed conclusions” (xxi).

“Minimalism…is an unreasonable insistence on oversimplification—on reducing everything to monolithic causes and linear effects. Minimalism is easily recognizable in political campaign rhetoric: candidates take behemoth problems facing the nation—complicated difficulties that often have been decades in the making—and reduce them to one-line platitudes and campaign slogans. Minimalism is also apparent in the modern portrayal of history” (xxi).

Academic Collectivism is when “writers and scholars quote each other and those from their peer groups rather than consult original sources. This destructive and harmful tendency now dominates the modern academic world, with a heavy reliance on peer review as the almost exclusive standard for historical truth” (xxii). “This type of ‘peer review’ is incestuous, with one scholar quoting another, each recirculating the other’s views, but with none of them consulting sources or ideas outside his…own academic gene pool. The presence of a PhD after one’s name today somehow suggests academic infallibility—but this view must change if truth, accuracy, and objectivity are ever again to govern the presentation of history and historical figures. Primary source documents and historical evidence are the proper standard[s] for historical truth, not professors’ opinions” (xxiii).

Okay. Let me leave you with just one final thought. If you, as MST3K, believe Thomas Jefferson was sexual with his slave girl, Sally Hemings, then you’ve been lied to by the five powers (above) that be. The lie was started in Jefferson’s own time by James T. Callender, who hated Jefferson and unjustly blamed him for not returning $200 for demanded a presidential appointment to US postmaster, which Jefferson and Secretary of State Madison refused him. And so Callender announced his intention to punish Jefferson, obtained a job with a Richmond, VA, newspaper, and proceeded to defame Jefferson. In any way he could, including accusing him of “dishonest, cowardice, and gross personal immorality”67—which included charges that “Jefferson had fathered a child by Hemings” (20). So that’s where the lie began. The lie was resurrected—and I’m certain you’ll be shocked to learn by whom and why—“[i]n 1998 the journal Science released the results of a DNA inquiry into whether Jefferson had fathered any children through his slave…” (1). Hmmm…what was going on in 1998 that would necessitate the imputation of Thomas Jefferson’s character?

“That 1998 announcement concerning early American history was actually relevant to events occurring at the time, for it came” (oh, please…wait for it, wait for it) “at the commencement of President Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings for lying under oath to a grand jury about his sexual activities with a young intern inside the Oval Office” (1). Of course. How convenient, right? The Democrats seize this journal article about Thomas Jefferson to shield their beloved Clinton. “…if a man as great as Thomas Jefferson had engaged in sexual trysts, then President Clinton should not face questions about his sexual misbehavior. After all, such conduct had not diminished the stature of Jefferson, they argued, so it shouldn’t be allowed to weaken that of Clinton” (1). The only problem is that the DNA evidence used to malign Thomas Jefferson about fathering Tom, Sally’s s, showed Thomas Jefferson was NOT the father. You see, Thomas Jefferson’s only mail heir died at birth, and DNA testing requires a Y chromosome from a male descendant. So they used…Thomas Jefferson’s UNCLE’s DNA. What’s more, 13 leading scholars concluded that Thomas Jefferson’s younger brother was most likely the father.

The Jefferson family historian and genealogist, Herbert Barger, assisted in the DNA testing had this to say: “My study indicates to me that Thomas Jefferson was NOT the father of Eston or any other Hemings child. The DNA study…indicates that Randolph [Thomas’ younger brother] is possibly the father of Eston and maybe the others… [T]here of Sally Hemings’ children, Harriet, Beverly, and Eston (the latter two not common names), were given names of the Randolph family”36 (10, emphasis added by Barton).

And, of course, there was a wild hue and cry to get rid of all portraits and images of Jefferson, change school names, etcetera, and then, EIGHT WEEKS AFTER the DNA story broke, it was retracted on the down-low without any attention brought to it to prove Thomas Jefferson was NOT guilty of the lie: “…the scientific researcher who had conducted the DNA test announ[ced] that it actually had not proven that Jefferson fathered any children with Hemings”11 (3).

For the full story, please—please!!—read the book. Thomas Jefferson deserves to have the lies denounced in your mind and his character unsullied in the annals of modern history and society at large.

Grade: A+

[Christy Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

People are going to believe what they want to believe even though facts to the opposite are right in front of them.

David Barton is an American history expert and is well known for setting the record straight when deconstructionists have done their work. He uses original sources to refute 7 popular lies.

The biggest lie told and believed is tackled first. Thomas Jefferson is not the father of any of Sally Hemings children. Barton knocks out every argument and supposed evidence used to support this slanderous lie. The DNA evidence presented in 1998 was retracted as non conclusive, but the retraction received next to no news coverage. Barton’s says that’s it’s very likely that Jefferson’s youngest brother, who regularly visited the slaves quarters with his fiddle, is the most probable candidate.

Many claims against him challenge his faith. His belief does take a journey into many ideas, but he was never an atheist.

He is called a racist, which Barton presents Jefferson’s own writings to say otherwise.

Demagogues have used the clause in the Constitution that count slaves as 5/8 of a person to make uneducated people angry at the Founders. What these manipulated people don’t know is that that was done so that the Southern states would not have more representatives in Congress and thus have more power. Slavery would never be eliminated. I knew this before this book, but what I didn’t know what that the North had argued that if blacks couldn’t vote, and yet be counted as a full person for representation, then the North could count all their work animals in the count for representation. It seems to have made its point, as a compromise was made.

People, including me, have wondered why Jefferson didn’t free his slaves if he believed that all men are created equal. I had heard he couldn’t because of laws, yet Washington was able to free his slaves on his death. Barton goes through all the laws from the colonies of King George down through Jefferson’s time. The short answer is he couldn’t. Both of these men inherited them. The laws changed from Washington’s death to Jefferson’s death.

Education is power over manipulation.